A Busy Ballot Affects District 833 in November
Written by Mallory Paine
Written by Shridula Arun
In this year's school board election there are nine candidates running, including three candidates up for re-election. As the race has moved forward, two groups of candidates have formed. Jamie Kokaisel, Marge Lindberg, Vicki Holst, and Eric Tessmer are very open on Facebook and in their campaign efforts about running together. Their group slogan is Vote for Common Sense. The three candidates running for re-election, Patricia Driscoll, Katie Schwartz, and Sharon Van Leer, plus Michael Bestler and Enrique Ramos share similar views together.
The United Teachers of South Washington County (UTSWC) endorsed Michael Bestler, Patricia Driscoll, Katie Schwartz, and Sharon Van Leer. The UTSWC is a union representation of teachers from all across the district. According to Nick Jasiczek, the Vice President, “We invite any and all candidates that are interested in screening with us. There are two different parts, we give them questions ahead of time that they write out answers to and then the night of we ask a couple of questions, compare notes, and decide who we are going to endorse.” According to Jasiczek, UTSWC is looking for qualities like qualifications in education, how they want to fund education, and their support for classroom activities. When asked why the union endorsed who they did, Jasiczek said, “There are people who want to give you the moon and the stars, but can they do it? And how are they going to do it?”
Also on this year's ballot, voters will find two referendum questions. The first question addresses the overall budget, which includes teachers, food, and transportation. This tax increase will rise with inflation over the two years. According to Tracy Brunette, outgoing school board chair,, “The second question is for funding of new technology for the district. It’s going to help with the budget, and to be a bit more stable.”
Jamie Kokaisel, Marge Lindberg, Vicki Holst, and Eric Tessmer do not support the referendum. Marge Lindberg, a former teacher said at the League of Women Voters meeting,“I would have a hard time supporting the levy just because, have we really dealt with thinking of options to solve those issues? We are saying there is an additional $380 with the levy and in our district that is about $6 million. Where is it going? Because we aren’t seeing it in improvement in achievement.” Katie Schwartz and Sharon Van Leer showed support for it. Sharon Van Leer conveyed her approval, “I am committed to rallying the community behind the operating and capital budget levies because I want the community to understand the benefits, the impact, and the importance of passing these levies.” Enrique Ramos showed support for the referenda in a Facebook post, “Based on the budget updates, the increase in levies appears warranted..” Michael Bestler did not make any comments about the levy.
Last school year the school board made large budget cuts that have been implemented this school year. During the League of Women Voters candidate screening, candidates were also asked what they thought was the most important issue in the district. Jamie Kokaisel also spoke about the budget, “It looks like there is a lot going into equity and inclusion and I worry that there are other areas that are not receiving that money.” Katie Schwartz had a similar opinion to her colleague Tracy Brunette, “I’d say the number one issue is budget, it has been for a long time. I think we need to start to live within our minds, and use the money that we have responsibly.” The referendum on the ballot will be a step to help with the budget. Many candidates have speculated that there is hidden money within the district that is leading to the budget struggles. Schwartz contradicted this at the League of Women Voters candidate screening, “All of that information [regarding budget decisions] is available to the public, all of our budgets have to be. We are a public school district, nothing can be done behind closed doors or that is not available to the public. Anyone can ask for the budget and can see where every dime that we spend goes.”
According to Brunette, the most pressing issue facing our district is: “We’re going to have to look at facilities with all of the buildings you can see everywhere in our district and with all the buildings: where are we going to find land if we don’t start thinking about this very soon. And then of course the budget. The budget is always an issue, it has been an issue since I started on the board twenty two years ago.”
